Friday, June 16, 2017

New Words


Over the years, our dictionary has received a lot of use. In fact, it lives in the dining room, because where else but at the supper table are you wondering, discussing, debating and even arguing about a word, a person, or a place? (And if you have other answers to that question, that's fine. Just don't tell me; I don't want to know.)

But lately there is a entire crop of new words that demand further research.  For starters:

Idiot - Yes, we all have a working knowledge of this word, but perhaps we are not so aware that the roots of the word rest in ancient Greek. The New York Times op ed piece, "Trump and the True Meaning of 'Idiot'"  helps explain.

Impeachment - Yes, this too is a familiar word. But how this impeachment process could play out is described here.

Troll - I knew it was a noun, but can it really be a verb, too? Seems so, and has nothing to do with fishing from a boat.

Emolument/Emollient - Emolument equals hard and bad. Emollient is soft and good. 

Covfefe - Not "coffee" as my spellchecker insists. This one is still undefined. But that hasn't stopped any number of people from suggesting the real meaning. Ahhh, I get it. Those people are trolling.

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